In his recent column (The Dartmouth, Feb. 14, 2002, "Adherence to Activism in the Face of Apathy"), Sam Stein finds the Dartmouth Young Democrats' flagging numbers indicative of a trend toward student complacency. Jason Spitalnick, in response (The Dartmouth, Feb. 15, 2002, "An Active Student Body"), chides Stein for his "pessimistic and ultimately unconstructive conclusions." Spitalnick identifies several loci of activism at Dartmouth and challenges Stein not only to look harder for activism but to contribute his own efforts.
As members of the Dartmouth College Greens organization, we'd like to continue the dialogue regarding activism by identifying the strategies we believe to be responsible for our organization's thriving membership. We also encourage Stein and Spitalnick to think more carefully about, and imagine more broadly, what constitutes activism in the first place.
To begin, we believe that as compelling as our activist work is, we gain no favors among the "mainstream" student body we seek to employ by tagging them as apathetic. Frustration with low turnout at meetings and events must evolve into a dedicated assessment of what potential members seek to gain from participation.
Time is a precious resource, and student organizations simply must be exciting on a campus where there is so much to do. Taking up Stein's example, Mr. Marton's experience has been that most offers for participation from the Young Democrat leadership involve phone banking and other work that, sandwiched between midterms and Winter Carnival, may not merit a drive down to Manchester months before an election. All people interested in a group must be offered something of significance to do, or they will feel like driftwood within the organization.
The Dartmouth College Greens regularly boast weekly meeting attendance of over 20 people, most of whom would describe themselves as very active when it comes to planning and executing events. With a national agenda largely shaped by the participation of young people around the country, we seem to have an easier time attracting students than the dollar-driven, 200-year-old Democratic party. Additionally, the Greens' commitment to sustained issue advocacy -- from the global to the local, including human rights, non-violence, election reform and environmental sustainability -- has attracted members who may not have voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 election or who may have little interest in electoral politics at all. The flexibility in our agenda has kept our group notably diverse.
This year the Greens succeeded in tapping and sustaining the energy of first-year students by appointing three '05s to our coordinating committee. Showing few signs of inexperience -- most Dartmouth students were leaders in high school anyway -- these '05s have done a great job in strengthening ties with the Council on Student Organizations (COSO) and recruiting new members.
The Greens has participated in two mass mobilizations this year -- a peace rally in September and a demonstration for economic justice in early February. We continue the process of educating ourselves outside of the classroom by sponsoring speakers and traveling to conferences, we contribute to campus dialogue and we facilitate interaction among a variety of student activist circles. The Dartmouth College Greens has no claims to perfection, but our members keep coming back and our numbers are growing.
Looking aside from organizational strategy and the Dartmouth Greens now, we propose that both Stein and Spitalnick expand their conceptions of what student activism can be. Both writers focus on the Democrat and Republican groups on campus, though Spitalnick also centers his argument on the Tucker Foundation and Dickey Center. What neither writer includes is the invaluable work by behind-the-scenes activists, who put together awareness-raising programs such as the Vagina Monologues, facilitate art shows such as the recent "Area" events, host speakers on socially responsible investing, coordinate conferences such as the just-passed Greening of the Ivies or publish Main Street magazine, for example. The list of these "invisible" activist efforts is enormous. Our increasingly broad definition of political action must value these contributions and recognize their tremendous capacity for raising awareness and influencing opinion.
Denouncing student apathy is rarely productive and most often unnecessary. The perception of apathy at Dartmouth can only exist among student leaders when we don't feel our organizations are achieving full potential. A first step is to facilitate every member's involvement in shaping the agenda of the organization. When it comes time to evaluate the impact of activism at Dartmouth, it is best to begin by looking broadly and deeply, for many of this campus's most valuable activists are in fact quietly plugging along without making much noise at all.
